Pumpkin
by DD Agent
Summary: Brenda helps Flynn in a prank on Provenza. Andy/Brenda, set in between 610 and 611


**Pumpkin by DD Agent**

_I do not own The Closer or any of its characters, or its settings_  
**  
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It was a Sunday afternoon and Brenda Leigh Johnson was coming into work. They didn't have any active cases, but she was still going in. Fritz was in DC for the week, coming back on Wednesday and she just wasn't comfortable being at home alone. She kept checking her bathroom window every few minutes, the phantom of Stroh popping up in her mind. So she decided to stay in the office, just work on a few cases on her own. However, when she went into the new offices of Major Crimes, she was surprised by the ton of pumpkins scattered over the desks.

"What is going on here?" Brenda asked, hoping that someone would answer her, preferably Flynn and Provenza. However, when a figure emerged it was just the singular, Flynn.

He was standing in the murder room, dressed casually in a leather jacket and jeans and holding a knife. She looked at him in shock until he turned to his hand where the knife was held and put it quickly on the desk, taking a couple of steps back.

"I swear to God Chief, I'm not planning to kill anyone."

Brenda moved a few of the pumpkins out of her way. "Thank God Lieutenant, but why are you here on a Sunday? And why does this place look like a Halloween maze?"

Flynn gathered one of the pumpkins up from his desk, one of the few that had a face carved into it and opened the lid. "Guy I know had them all on cheap, people aren't buying them until closer to Halloween so they can make and freeze pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. So I bought a ton."

"And let me guess, plan to put them all on Provenza's desk?" Brenda teased, and watched as Flynn's face split into a wide grin.

"Got it in one Chief. Why are you here?"

Brenda considered lying for a moment: if she told Flynn that she was still scared of Stroh then he would likely want a Uniform on her door, or send Gabriel, and she wanted neither. It seemed the better option. "Wanted something out of my candy drawer."

Flynn nodded, not quite believing her. "Want to help me carve some pumpkins? I'll even give you one to put in your office."

She thought it over for a moment. She didn't have anything seriously to do, and she liked pumpkins. They always reminded her of going trick or treating with her brothers when she was a child, dressed up in the same angel costume her mother kept altering every year.

"Alright, you're on Lieutenant."

Flynn got Provenza's rubbish bin and brought out two huge spoons. He pulled off his jacket and Brenda did too, and they got stuck in to hollowing out the pumpkins. They decided to hollow them all out first, get that sticky job out of the way before carving the faces. They had done about eight pumpkins when Flynn turned to Brenda, enjoying seeing his boss in a social setting.

"You've got a pip on your cheek."

"Where?" Instead of doing anything productive, she just kept wrinkling her nose. In the end, Flynn moved his fingers over her skin and picked it off her cheek, stroking the spot gently with his finger. She looked so adorable. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

"No problem Chief, so what are you doing for Halloween?" Flynn asked, turning back to his pumpkin. It was a hard job, but it would be worth it to see Provenza's face on Monday morning.

Brenda thought it over for a moment. "Probably the same thing I did last year - big bowl of popcorn, eating all the trick or treater's chocolate and watching horror films on cable. You?"

Flynn finished another pumpkin and reached for one at the back. "Well the old Chief had great Halloween parties, everyone dressed up and everyone got drunk. Provenza kept bringing me along as a wing man; I usually ended up in a back room watching a _Scream _marathon with Captain Raydor and the boys from Internal Affairs. They like their horror movies."

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah, well the second bit is. We usually find the head of the AID and Traffic and lock them in a cupboard with a glow in the dark skeleton."

Brenda snorted and giggled as she thought about that. She finished another pumpkin - there were still plenty more to go. Flynn chuckled and started work on his next pumpkin - once you got into a rhythm with it, it was quite easy to get started. Of course, he had the upper body strength that the Chief lacked and she was groaning as the spoon got stuck into the pumpkin. He couldn't stop laughing as he watched her jerk the spoon out of it, pulling more pips and strings of pumpkin flesh onto her white shirt.

"Don't laugh Lieutenant, don't you dare."

He doubled up. "Sorry Chief, I can't help it."

Frowning, she took a handful of what they had already scooped up and threw it at Flynn, staining his blue shirt. He looked down in disgust. "Bad move, Chief, very bad move."

He lulled her into a false sense of security before reaching for her hips and pulling her over, grabbing some pumpkin inside and rubbing it in her hair. She cried out and squealed as the pips went down the back of her shirt. Retaliating, she grabbed a handful and shoved it down the front of Flynn's trousers, causing him to yell. They continued to throw things at each other until they just stopped to laugh, giggling at each other covered in pumpkin bits.

Flynn raised his hands in surrender and started pulling bits of pumpkin out of the Chief's hair. She looked beautiful; she always did when she was a complete wreck. Poised and polished Brenda Leigh Johnson was not his favourite; he liked her when she was a mess. She put her hands through his hair, pulling out some of the pips that had got stuck in the salt and pepper strands.

"I'm glad you're staying, Chief," Flynn admitted as she wiped some of the things off his shirt.

"Me too, Lieutenant. Me too. We better get cleaned up; I think there are showers in the gym. We should have a shower. Together…I mean, not together, separate showers."

Flynn chuckled at his Chief's mistake, and she left him alone to head down to the gym. He shortly followed, and they both showered and checked their lockers for a spare set of clothes as most of their attire was stained and smelly with pumpkin cartilage. Flynn was very happy that he had a spare set of underwear in his locker, as his had been ruined by his Chief's determination to win.

He met her in the gym, looking at a couple of people who had come in to use the equipment on their day off. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose LAPD t-shirt that she kept there. He was in shorts and a dodgers t-shirt.

"I'm sorry about your pants, Lieutenant."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry about your hair."

They smiled and walked up to the murder room where they observed the mess they had made. There were pumpkin bits all over case files, stuck in the grooves of desks and unfortunately on a new poster with the new Chief of Police on it.

"Delk isn't doing a Halloween party, asshole. So Provenza is taking me on a double date, fancy dress is a must apparently. I thought I'd get my revenge a little early."

Brenda snorted and moved her hand down to graze Flynn's. She hooked her fingers around a few of his. He smiled. "Let's get this done."

They hollowed out the rest of the pumpkins, and while Brenda scrubbed at the desks, Flynn went searching for marker pens and another knife to cut out the eyes and the mouth. As he came back, Brenda hid and tried to get some more pumpkin mulch down his shirt but he caught her hand and spun her back onto his front, and she gave up trying to get him back for making her clean up.

Their faces ran from the simple to the complex. While Flynn carved out basic ones and started leaving them on Provenza's desk, Brenda got creative and started experimenting with pumpkins. She left a grouchy looking one underneath a crossword on Provenza's desk. She drew a moustache on one and a larger moustache on another and left them on Gabriel's desk and in Taylor's cubicle. She gave Sanchez' pumpkin a wide grin, and put glasses on Tao's pumpkin. She managed to steal a toothpick from Flynn's desk drawer as he was putting more on Provenza's desk, and he chuckled at his own pumpkin. She took two more while Flynn was finishing covering Provenza's desk and completing his prank. She cut the top off of one and left it outside Will's door, and snuck down to lost and found and discovered a black witch's hat and stuck it on the pumpkin outside Captain Raydor's office.

"I think we did really good, Chief," Flynn said as they looked at the amount of pumpkins on Provenza's desk. "Thank you for your help. You need a lift home?"

Brenda brushed a strand of hair back off of her face. It had taken forever to get it all done, and it had distracted her from being home alone. She decided she had been in the office long enough, and she needed to go back and order in some dinner. "I'm fine Lieutenant, I am."

He nodded. "If you ever…if you ever need help with the Stroh case, I'm only a phone call away Chief."

She smiled and they hugged briefly before he walked her out of the building. They went in opposite directions, and Brenda was sad to see the afternoon go so quickly. She had enjoyed her time with Flynn, more than she had thought possible.

The next morning, Brenda got in before Provenza, and could see the fruits of their labour lying in wait. Tao and Sanchez were laughing in anticipation of his reaction, and enjoying the little pumpkins on their desks. Just as she snuck into her office, she saw Provenza coming around the corner. Flynn was waiting in the super cubicle.

Provenza looked up from his paper and at the pumpkins crowding his desk. He snarled, before taking in a deep breath and yelled. "FLYNN!"

As Brenda went into her office, she saw that on her window sill there was a pumpkin with a smiling face and a Hershey bar sticking out of a corner. She turned back and caught Flynn's eye as he went to deal with the consequences of his prank on Provenza, smiling at her all the way.


End file.
